Running in Circles: Colorado Here We Come... Day 2

Ahh... today started early, at 7:30 am to be exact! We got on the road about 9:45 am and the kids were so excited to see Colorado. We did a lot of driving today and we really wanted to go see some dinosaur footprints at Picketwire Canyon Lands. We couldn't find it in our GPS and for some reason there was no address or info in the Colorado vacation guide (what's the point in putting it in the book if they don't tell you where it's at or how to get there?). We called Papa back in KC and got directions. So after lunch, we headed that way. We didn't get too far down the dirt road before we decided to turn back for fear of getting the minivan stuck out in the mud with no cell phone service. Luckily for us we did turn around, because Papa called back later and said it's a 5 mile hike to see the dinosaur footprints! Can you believe that? So, if you're ever in La Junta, Colorado, don't go to Picketwire Canyon Lands. Apparently it sucks :)

When we saw the Colorado sign, Max said, "We're in Colorado! Where are the mountains? Do you think this is Colorado? I'm gonna have so much fun in Colorado! Is this Colorado for real? I wanna go to Colorado! We're not in Kansas anymore."

When we got to our hotel and it was time for the kids to go to bed, we put one in each bed and Lia was in the pack n play at the foot of Ava's bed. Well, Lia is pretty proud of herself for being able to pull herself standing up now. So she spent about an hour showing off. First you would see two little hands, then up pops her head, big grin on her face, then everybody laughs, and she plops back down. Wash, rinse, repeat. It was pretty funny... for the first 10 times or so :)

Things I learned on day two of our road trip:
1. Circle PBJ's are only great if mommy doesn't leave them in the refrigerator at the hotel (and no we didn't go back to get them even though the kids thought we should drive 3 hours back for them :)
2. Max and Ava actually fight less in the car than they do at home, but it's harder to ignore them and impossible to separate them.
3. Somehow, "If you don't stop that now, you're going to timeout" still works and I'm surprised they haven't figured out that being in timeout in your carseat while we're driving is no different than just riding in your carseat... we'll see how long that one lasts.
4. Kansas has a lot of cows. Colorado also has a lot of cows.
5. You really shouldn't use the cupholder on the side of the seat... your drink WILL spill EVERYTIME. (Why do they even put that one there?)
6. Here's a list of things you should ask BEFORE you book a hotel room over the phone: do they have internet (this is really important if your husband is like mine :), do they have a bathtub (it's really hard to give 3 kids a shower at one time), do they have breakfast (I'm not cranky about cereal in the hotel room, but SOME people are). On the plus side, our room did have 2 clean beds, and no bugs. I would like to make a public apology to the old couple who was in the room next to us who just wanted a "quiet room" for the night... my kids were NOT quiet and I'm really sorry.

Don't forget to check out Josh's post here.

Welcome to Colorado!